The story will follow the adventures of -- you guessed it! -- Lucy Smokeheart, a pirate captain seeking vengeance and lost treasure as she follows the trail of her brother's last voyage.

This project will unfold as a year-long story told in monthly installments. Each month you'll receive an episode in ebook form, including a clue or puzzle for you to solve. By the end of the year, these clues will lead you to the online location of Lucy's hidden treasure!

Update!

We're working on the $7500 stretch goal now -- if I can get a good last burst of fresh donors, then I'll be able to commission my illustrator, Heather Williamee, to make quality covers for all twelve ebooks! I want this more than anything. More than a pony. More than ice cream. More than grog!

I've also been overcome by a raging fit of magnanimosity. Magnanimatude? Uh, giving feelings! And so I'll be sending every backer, at every level, a bonus gift -- a postcard with the Lucy Smokeheart illustration on one side, and a barely legible yet lovingly hand-written and signed thank you note on the other.

Stretch Goals

Lucy Smokeheart will fund at a modest $5,000. It's about as much money as you might hope for as an advance for a genre novel. (But if you work out the sheer hours going into such a project as this, odds are that would come out to well less than minimum wage.)

So let's set our sights higher, shall we? Here are the wonders we'll unlock if you, the Kickstarting public, bring us well over the top.

All stretch funds... Will allow me to spend more time on the project, apply more craft, commission extra illustrations, and in general will result in a superior project all around. If I only make that $5,000, it won't pay my mortgage, so Lucy Smokeheart will just be a side project.

It's a lot easier to deliver a knockout story when you don't have to write it in stolen midnights between client deadlines, you guys. Every dollar over goal gives me the gift of time.

At $7500: All episodes will feature bold cover illustrations (like the one toward the top of the page) by the brilliant and talented Heather Williamee! These will be far superior to the ones I could put together on my own. Just trust me, here. You really don't want that.

At $10,000: Subscribers at the $25 level and above will receive a short work of fiction by Jay Bushman, transmedia producer for the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, creator of Airship Dracula, and innovative genius behind #SXStarWars, #Cthalloween, and other Twitter dramas.

At $12,000: Subscribers at the $25 level and above will receive a short work of fiction by Naomi Alderman, lead writer and co-creator of Zombies, Run!, critically-acclaimed novelist (including Disobedience and The Liars' Gospel), protégée of Margaret Atwood, and author of BBC Doctor Who novel Borrowed Time.

At $14,000: Subscribers at the $25 level and above will receive a short work of fiction by J.C. Hutchins. J.C. crafts transmedia narratives for such entertainment companies as A&E, Cinemax, Discovery and St. Martin's Press. He's also the author of the 7th Son and Personal Effects thriller novel series.

At $16,000: Subscribers at the $25 level and above will receive a short work of fiction by bearded wunderkind wordsmith Chuck Wendig, author of the Miriam Black, Dinocolypse, and Atlanta Burns series. Serieses. Seriii.

At $18,000: Subscribers at the $25 level and above will receive a short work of fiction by Hugo Award-winning author (!) Maureen McHugh, of China Mountain Zhang, After the Apocalypse (one of Publishers Weekly’s Best 10 Books of 2011!), and ilovebees fame.

Risks and challenges

I might be late on delivering. That's because Lucy Smokeheart isn't my bread-and-butter daily work. If a project will pay three months of my mortgage but Lucy will be late in return, I'm going to have to let Lucy be late. All the same, I will use my very best time management skills (and evenings and weekends) to try to prevent this.

The story might kinda suck. I hope not? I like to think I'm a writer of some skill. But even the best writers don't hit a home run on every project. I'll try my best, and if I'm doing a bad job, I'll listen and try to correct course before we hit the rocks and all die of drowning and also hypothermia.

I might get killed by a meteor! Obviously the whole project relies on me continuing to be alive and well. If I die or suffer an incapacitating stroke, sorry guys, no recourse for you. Them's the breaks.

Support

Select this reward

Pledge $1 or more
About $1.00

CHUM: The first episode of the Adventures, plus email updates notifying you when each subsequent episode is available for purchase at an internet bookstore near you. Great if you want to keep track of the project but you're not quite ready to commit!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

CREWMAN: Get the complete Adventures as an ebook when the serial is complete, including a solutions appendix explaining how to find the treasure. You'll also receive a backers-only exclusive prequel episode -- learn where Lucy Smokeheart is from and how she began her pirating career! This level does include each monthly story and clue as they are published.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

COOK: Hang out with the author! At this level, you'll receive an invitation to a monthly Google Hangout where you can give feedback on how the Adventures are going -- and maybe even influence their future direction. Want a character named after you? Dying to see more carnivorous mermaids or fewer lizard-men? No promises, but join the Hangout and make your case. Also includes the ebook and monthly episodes.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

FIRST MATE: A signed and numbered limited-edition hardcover copy of the Daring Adventures! You'll also receive the serial and clues to the treasure hunt, the ebook with solutions and Lucy's exclusive origin story, and new episodes as they are published.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

BUCCANEER: Receive your own handcrafted paper copy of Lucy's mysterious treasure map -- and the key that opens whatever marvel is hidden there. Also includes monthly episodes and clues, the ebook, and a signed hardcover copy.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

CAPTAIN: A personalized, hand-written Letter of Marque spelling out the details of your captaincy and a selection of your own feats of derring-do! Also includes Lucy's treasure map and key and all prior rewards.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

ADMIRAL: You will be written into the Daring Adventures as a major character! I'll work with you to establish a suitable name and history, and then you'll get a starring role in one or more episodes! Also includes the monthly episodes and clues, ebook, signed hardcover, treasure map and key.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

POSEIDON: Your own private episode of Lucy's adventures, written to your own specifications. Feel free to share or keep it to yourself, at your discretion! Also includes the Letter of Marque, treasure map and key, a hardcover book, ebooks, clues, and email reminders.